What Does Isaiah 21:12 Mean in the King James?
The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The watchman’s name comes from the root for guarding: dawn and darkness both fall within the watch.
THE MEANING
Your present hour can hold both morning and night; the light arriving does not erase the darkness that follows. The watchman names both plainly, then leaves the invitation open: return, come.
THE ROOT
שֹׁמֵר
shomer
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
sh-m-r
To keep, guard, or watch over.
“watchman” in this verse is shomer. The Hebrew word points to one who keeps watch, not merely someone who predicts what hour comes next. Its root also describes keeping a charge or guard duty, so the verse places the speaker in active watch across both morning and night.
ALSO GROWS
shamar: Keep, guard, watch.
שָׁמַר
The watchman is named from this action: he keeps watch over what is coming.
mishmeret: A charge, guard duty, or watch.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch makes the watchman’s role a sustained keeping, not a single announcement.
THE PATTERN
A watch spans darkness and dawn; neither hour falls outside the watcher’s care.
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:THE THREAD
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.The Hebrew word for watchman in Isaiah and keepeth in this psalm both come from שׁמר (shamar), meaning to keep or guard. The shared root links the report of night and morning to a keeping that does not sleep.
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